June 15, 2024
A kerfuffle at a book signing leads to murder. The village of Stoneham, New Hampshire, has several bookstores, including mystery bookstore Haven't Got a Clue, owned by Tricia Miles, and Barney's Book Barn, owned by Betty Barnes, but it's new librarian David Price who's invited children's author Lauren Barker to make an appearance. Although the former Stoneham resident signs plenty of books, she refuses to do a reading and badmouths all her former teachers, annoying many people. David, who's recently started dating Tricia, is especially upset by Lauren's bad manners. He and Tricia are the last to leave the event, and when they notice a lone car in the parking lot, they walk over to investigate and find the author dead inside. Police Chief Ian McDonald isn't surprised that Tricia found the body because she has quite a reputation for discovering and solving murders. Nor is he happy to hear that Lauren had a lot of enemies past and present. Tricia's sister, Angelica, owns several village shops, but using a false name she's also the money and power behind the development that's transformed Stoneham in recent years. Both sisters have been unlucky in love, so Angelica is wary that David is 20 years younger than Tricia and that his job is at risk because of the new library director's enmity. But she's not totally opposed to her sister's sleuthing and even uses her many contacts to help. Given the number of people unhappy with Lauren and her checkered past, it won't be easy to uncover the truth. The latest adventure of the spunky bookseller and her wealthy sister will delight past fans and add new ones.
COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
June 20, 2024
It's leaf-peeping season in Stoneham, Vermont, with the shops of "Booktown" attracting busloads of visitors to the delight of Tricia Miles, owner of Haven't Got a Clue vintage mystery bookstore, and the other Chamber of Commerce members. Among the events planned for the season is a reading and book signing by famed children's book author and former resident, Lauren Barker. David, children's librarian and Tricia's current beau, had arranged the event to be held at the library. But it does not go well. Barker is heckled by a caf� owner who calls her work subversive; she's praised by a former teacher, but she castigates the teacher as uncaring. And worse, Barker skips the reading, disappointing dozens of children, and refuses to personalize the books she signs. Following the event, David and Tricia do cleanup, but notice a car in the lot: a rental, with Barker slumped over the wheel, dead. It's not Tricia's first body, and yet another death casts a pall over the town, but also surfaces deep enmities, as people fear the killer may strike again. The literary setting will appeal to fans of this long-running series, as well as those of Eva Gates and Paige Shelton.
COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.